Delivering a more a sustainable and cost-effective energy solution for the city.

On Wednesday, October 18th, Veolia and the City of Naugatuck proudly celebrated the ribbon cutting ceremony for the startup of the three new fuel cells that are powering 85 percent of the borough’s wastewater treatment plant that is operated and managed by Veolia. The fuel cells, manufactured in Connecticut and installed in June 2017, are preventing more than 3 million pounds of carbon dioxide and 10 million pounds of nitrogen oxide from entering the atmosphere,while conserving 4 million gallons of water - the equivalent of planting 350 acres of trees annually and removing 250 cars from the road each year.

Veolia is a proud partner of 16 years to the borough, operating the wastewater treatment plant and regional biosolids incinerator and merchant biosolids facility. Veolia has provided oversight and completion of a $19 million capital improvement program, ongoing implementation of enhanced nutrient removal and an ongoing $8.2 million incinerator project to improve performance. We are proud to help support our client, the Borough of Naugatuck, in its endeavors to make its community greener.

The state rates fuel cells as a Class 1 renewable energy source; by converting natural gas to hydrogen and combining this hydrogen with oxygen to produce energy, the fuel cells emit only heat and water byproducts. This is a significant step in Naugatuck’s goal of building a clean energy community. Not only is this technology helping in Naugatuck's greening efforts, but it's generating significant electricity savings. The plant, one of the largest electricity users in the area, drastically lowered its electricity usage with the installation of the fuel cells. The new system will also save close to $175,000 for the Borough, averaging approximately 4 million dollars of savings in the next 20 years.

The ribbon cutting event was attended by Naugatuck Mayor N. Warren ‘Pete’ Hess, Director of Naugatuck Economic Development Corp Ron Pugliese, General Manager of Sales and Business Development Michael Coskun, Eversource Vice President Paul Zohorski, and Gary Hale from Advanced Energy Systems LLC. Veolia Vice President of Business Development Farzin Kiani also spoke at the event.